Student's extradition order quashed

A senior judge has quashed the Home Secretary's order for the extradition to the United States of a British student accused of breaking copyright laws.

Richard O'Dwyer faced prosecution over the film and TV show file-sharing website TVShack, set up by him as a teenager.

Last week O'Dwyer voluntarily flew to New York and entered into a "deferred prosecution" agreement before a US judge and promised to "refrain from violation of any US law" in the future.

This ended the extradition threat, but O'Dwyer, 24, says he still believes he never committed any crime.

He agreed at the New York southern district court to pay the US dollar equivalent of £20,000 to the Motion Picture Association of America to compensate the "victims" of his alleged copyright infringement.

Sir John Thomas, president of the Queen's Bench Division, formally quashed the extradition order at London's High Court, saying: "This cannot be anything other than an extremely satisfactory outcome for everyone concerned."

The student's mother Julia O'Dwyer, from Chesterfield, who had flown to New York with her son, was also at the High Court for the final scene of her family's extradition battle.

She said: "We are delighted the matter is closed now. The New York hearing and signing the agreement only lasted five minutes, but it was the best five minutes we have had for a couple of years.

"Richard found the New York trip a bit frightening at first. He was worried that he might not be allowed to come back home.

"Ben Cooper (Richard's barrister) was with us and reassured us."